With full hearts, we held our annual fundraiser Love in the Soup on Saturday, October 12. This annual gathering is a showcase for us to highlight hope and heartfelt testimony that lives truly can change through the work of recovery. This year’s event featured speakers relaying that hope and some hard numbers.
Executive Director Kyle Roscoe emceed the event and kicked off the evening by giving an update on some numbers:
- From October 2023 to October 2024, active enrolled monthly Membership went from 190 to over 300+ per month.
- Meals served Mondays – Fridays went from 1300 to 1800 per month. This is without any significant increase in funding or an increase in staffing.
- Over 100 Members were waiting for a Recovery Coach, outlining the need for the service.
Café board president Chandler Williamson outlined the direction the board wants to take the Café and outlined 3 main goals:
- Increase and diversify funding streams – The Café is trying to balance out the sources of funding. Currently we receive a sizable part of our funding through government grants. We’re trying to increase other funding sources.
- Achieve a sustainable financial position that’s cash positive each year and allows us to build reserves.
- Fully staff the Café to help fulfill our goals – Continue to build our Recovery Coaching and peer support programs, complete the leadership team and increase compensation for paid staff.
Café DEI Coordinator Daniel expressed how DEI is the glue that holds the community together. Members come from a place of abandonment, isolation, and trauma and the Café gives them a sense of belonging, regardless of their ethnicity or life experience. In an emotional moment, he talked about his own recovery experience and how that experience guides his work at the Café, helping others become engaged in the community.
Founding Director Wendy Grove spoke of creating and nurturing a culture of love. A culture of loving accountability where healing and growth begin. She spoke of how expressing love became essential to her life and her work, and how a culture of love might transform the work of institutions like prisons and the court system.
We think the award for speaker of the night belongs to Chase. His recovery journey truly fills us with gratitude, and we are so immensely proud of him. It’s individuals like him that keep us going in this work because we know with a little bit of love, and a whole lot of work, lives can turn around and change for the better.
Operations Manager Kalei and Senior Programs Manager April rounded out the evening by speaking of the ways that the work of the Café have helped Members in their recovery. And they spoke about how the staff come together to exchange ideas about how to improve the work they do for Members. They also expertly did the fundraising ask of the attendees.
Our work wouldn’t be possible without the support of our donors like the ones who attended Love in the Soup. It’s because of them that we are able to provide the Recovery Circles and the Recovery Coaching that we do. They’re why we can provide the meals that we make fresh daily in our kitchen and they’re how we keep the utilities on. Whether they know it or not, our donors are embedded in our work as deeply as anyone involved in the Café, so whether you were in attendance on Saturday, or if you weren’t able to make it, we want to extend a very heartfelt thank you!
We want to thank Coastal Community Bank and Elderrock Financial for sponsoring this year’s Love in the Soup. Their contribution is greatly appreciated!
